United States of America - February 2025

Undocumented migrants have been transported to third countries and the US military base in Guantanamo Bay for their ultimate repatriation. Rights groups and family members have sued on behalf of individual migrants and challenged the deportation schemes, given their impact on migrants’ rights, particularly due process. The US has resorted to agreements with El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama to facilitate the deportation of nationals of countries with which diplomatic relations are inexistent or tense. In Panama, a country that received people swiftly deported from the US without the ability to claim asylum, activists have denounced a lack of access to legal counsel, translation services and prolonged detention. Officials claimed those sent to Guantanamo were high-risk detainees, that is, suspected of or known to have links to criminal groups, including those designated as terrorist. However, most have not been charged or convicted of serious crimes. By early March nearly 300 migrants had been transferred to Guantanamo; most were deported but around 40 people were sent back to the US, without the government explaining the reasons.

 Sources: NY Times, OHCHR, NBC News, BBC, CBS News

Following a January executive order that called for the suspension of Congress-approved foreign aid funds and the review of foreign aid programs, the Trump administration began placing thousands of employees of the US Agency for International Development on administrative leave. Despite ongoing litigation on the matter, by the end of February, officials had placed over half of USAID’s workforce of approximately 10,000 either on leave or had dismissed them, and announced only essential personnel (numbering in the several hundreds) would continue as part of the State Department. On 10 March, the Secretary of State announced the review of USAID’s programs had finalized; between 82 and 90 per cent of the agency’s programs have been terminated (representing about USD 51.6 billion in grants). According to the Secretary of State, the surviving programs would, in consultation with Congress, continue under the State Department. Despite USAID being a congressionally created agency, Republicans who hold a majority in both chambers have not pushed back on its dismantling.

Sources: TIME, ABC News, BBC, Just Security

The Associated Press (AP) journalists have been barred from accessing Oval Office and other White House events, as well as from boarding the presidential plane as part of the press pool, due to the AP’s editorial decision to continue referring to the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ with its original name, after the Trump administration issued an executive order to rename it as the ‘Gulf of America’. The AP filed a lawsuit against the government, claiming both free speech and due process violations. Litigation is ongoing.  

Sources: Associated Press (1), Associated Press (2) Just Security, The White House, The Conversation

President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) on 10 February, directing the Attorney General to pause the enforcement of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for 180 days. The FCPA was enacted with the objective of banning US companies, subsidiaries and other enterprises and individuals with ties to the US from offering or paying bribes to foreign officials. Critics of the FCPA have argued the legislation leaves American companies in an unfavourable position in markets where payments to officials are commonly conducted to facilitate business. President Trump has voiced opposition to the law since his first term, considering US companies are unable to compete on a level playing field with foreign enterprises. Days before the EO was issued, the Attorney General had issued a memorandum, prioritizing investigations into bribery that benefited cartels and terrorist organizations. While the EO only temporarily freezes the FCPA, it may undermine anti-corruption efforts at the domestic and international levels.

Sources: The White House, Voice of America, Just Security, CBS News, Reuters